Tip: Topaz, from the Sonic X series, will be referred to as 'Agatha' in this chapter. Just a heads up so you don't wonder who she is! Enjoy!
I wake up with an impressive, full-body groan, feeling as if I have just been tugged from a deep lagoon into the world of daylight. Pulling my arms from an odd entanglement, I open my eyes, confused. They blink blearily for a few seconds in an unfamiliar space, and a momentary panic rushes through me, drawing a gasp from my lungs, before I remember where I am and calm myself.
Not that knowing I am essentially a prisoner is all that soothing to wake up to.
Sitting up in an attempt to distract myself from that uplifting thought, I rub my eyes as I swing my legs off the cushioned platform for the first time this morning.
To be truthful, I am not feeling too bad today. I nod to myself, grinning slightly despite the circumstances. This 'bed' idea may be new, but it has done wonders for my spine. I stretch my shoulders, arching my back and feeling the muscles along my torso loosen.
What am I going to do today? I ponder, looking at the ceiling. Multiple cameras stare back down at me, and I smile slightly, sheepish that they are watching. I had better get used to it, though. I lay down again, but my head turns abruptly toward the door as it chimes suddenly, alarming me back into a sitting position.
Keh...?
To my surprise, the door opens, revealing a small squad of human soldiers and a human woman in front of them that I am not familiar with.
"Good morning," she greets. She seems relaxed, but her hand is resting on a nastily large holster.
I sit still, despite my accelerated hearts at the thought of where I might be going, of what might happen, determined to not be intimidated by circumstances out of my control. She seems to wait for a response, but, after a few seconds to mentally recompose myself, I just look at her expectantly, remembering that I am not to speak.
"If you'll just follow me..." She says, gesturing out the doorway. I nod, standing up and approaching the door, accepting whatever must happen today. I move cautiously, more worried about the humans' weapons than I would like to admit. No sense in getting shot because I walk too quickly, after all. Humans are easily spooked.
"I'm Captain Agatha Topaz. I'll be your main guard."
Are you guarding me, or are you guarding everyone around from me? I ask myself, wishing I could ask her. Probably the latter, but I suppose she would protect me from harm, as well, if I required it. I stare at the woman curiously as we walk, ignoring the soldiers in formation around me so I can maintain my confidence.
"Did you sleep well?" Agatha asks, and it takes me a moment to realize she is asking me, with my eyes too busy scanning the lackluster surroundings.
I really am unused to interacting... I think, nodding with a shrug in response to the question. I would like to tell her that I had never been in a bed before, but I cannot think of a way to convey that sentiment nonverbally.
I blame Shadow for this. It would be so much easier to just talk. Nevertheless, I hold my tongue as I am guided through the steel corridors. Bored by the dullness, my mind wanders a bit.
I have very loud footsteps, I think suddenly, glancing at my feet. My long claws are clacking on the floor quite audibly, and the sound is echoing down the passage in strange patterns. To me, the sound lasts until it is far too faint for even Shadow to hear, and the overlap of noise creates a constant chatter.
I wish this were grass or dirt. This constant clicking is annoying me.
I quirk my head as we approach a large metal door in the wall. The woman opens it by pressing a button, and I blink in surprise when I see behind it is a very small, metallic room.
Is this some sort of containment chamber? I ask myself, obviously not getting a reply. The two soldiers leading step into it, and Captain Agatha steers me inside as well. I tense as the doors close, not liking this.
"!!!" I barely stifle a yelp that jumps from my throat as the room jerks and starts moving.
What is happening?! Alarmed, I automatically step back, knocking into the captain. Thankfully, she steadies me instead of shooting me, a reaction I am sure is rare here.
"That's right. You've never been in an elevator before," she says, speaking in a calm voice. "Don't worry. We'll be out of here in no time."
I shiver, embarrassed by my reaction and still nervous. The woman's hands on my shoulders are very disconcerting, and I edge away slightly while trying not to be rude.
The box stops. Unprepared, still edging away and unused to balancing my oddly-proportioned form with just the powers of my muscles, I lose my balance and topple forward. In all the surprise, having never fallen over before, I forget to catch myself and smack face first into the metal.
Kryyy!
The whole ordeal is shocking, painful, and humiliating enough already, I think, but chance is not with me today. The door opens right as I crash down, letting four other humans also bear witness to my most embarrassing moment so far.
Chaos and cantaloupe.
Surprised snickers and suppressed chuckles fill the air around me, and Captain Agatha kneels down next to me as I decide to permanently relegate myself to doormat status.
"Gracious, are you alright?" She asks, doing a remarkable job on not laughing. I raise my eyes slowly to look at her, make eye contact, and let out a very, very long, exasperated sigh.
'I have not been alright in a good while,' the sigh says, and she seems to understand, eyes softening.
"Come on, bud. Let's get you to your destination." I groan internally at being called 'bud' again, but I am just too preoccupied with humiliation to be annoyed.
She leads me to another examination, which relieves the part of me that was expecting worse, and I sit still through all the torturous rounds again. Apparently, this will be done every day for a while to make sure the findings are accurate, and I despair at the thought of the temperature taking becoming a common thing.
My fears are confirmed when the doctor pulls out that stupid little thermometer, gesturing for me to bend over.
I growl slightly, not wanting to humiliate myself any more today, but he becomes more insistent. Eventually, I give in, as the man threatens to have the guards hold me down for it.
So, the invading probe strikes again, and I spend the entire time hoping neither Shadow nor his minions will show up right now.
Thankfully, they do not, and I suffer through the rest of the tasks. Captain Agatha has left to go somewhere--she managed to miss my second largest humiliation of the day--but she comes back once I have been here, uncomfortable and grumpy, for a solid hour.
"So," she begins after the examination finishes. We are not going anywhere right now, so I sit atop the metal table, swinging my legs slightly. I cock my head at her, giving her my attention and waiting for her to continue. "I bring news: You can speak again, if you'd like."
"Really?" I ask, pleasantly surprised for the first time today. She looks a little incredulous at my voice, but she smiles.
"Really. Your name is Eclipse, right?"
"Yes. Eclipse the Darkling is my full English name," I respond, pleased to finally be able to talk.
"You have a name in another language?" Agatha asks, a little confused.
"In my native language, I am called Terorah."
"Native language?"
"Aver. My name is actually very amusing, but its English counterpart is not so much..." She picks up my affirmative through voice tone, nodding.
"What does Terorah mean?" She asks, stumbling a bit on the pronunciation.
"It is an active noun. It means 'the conquering shadow.' Since, well, I was created to conquer Shadow."
"That's very...punny." Agatha replies, seeming unsure whether she should be concerned by the joke.
"Punny?" It is my turn to ask a question, and I look at her expectantly.
"A funny pun. It's actually a pun itself, you see."
"I do," I say, amused. "You do not have to be worried by my purpose. If I had intended to fulfill it, I would have. I do not like Shadow, not in the slightest--in fact, he rather irks me--but I do not wish him harm."
That often, I add in my head, thinking back to our argument yesterday. The jerk.
Nevertheless, I do not let my feelings show, and Agatha nods.
"We ought to get you to the next appointment."
"There is more?" I groan, and she grins.
"Yep. Come on, Princeling of Darkness. You've got places to be." I grin at her, catching the joke, and she guides me down the hall again.
...
I flinch as the human woman gently feels my shoulder, as unnerved by her touch as I am by the pain lancing through my flesh.
Urhhh... That is twinging every muscle in my neck.
"I can see what you mean--there's definitely something in his shoulder," she says, talking to the Ayers female. "I'm not familiar with this muscular structure, but, from what I can tell, it's not going to be particularly damaging to remove the object. The only problem would be acquiring instruments that won't melt from his acidic blood, but we've got an idea on that.."
"Glass works, but you probably wouldn't want to use that, would you?" Inquires Ayers, and the other female shakes her head. Her hand absentmindedly rests on my collarbone, and I shift myself away from her, feeling like I have had far too much contact with humans recently.
"We've analyzed his blood, though not entirely. Unlike human blood, which is basic, his is very acidic. We believe it's mostly hydrochloric, but we can't entirely tell due to all the foreign components in it. In addition, performing surgery with glass is dangerous. We're going to use polymethylpentene instead, though we're not done making the tools."
"That's a goo--"
"You are using what?" I ask incredulously, cutting off the professor. Even though I am comparatively fluent in English, I certainly do not know that monster of a word the human spoke so casually. The other female looks surprised, but Ayers smiles at my question. "Pah-lee-meth-uhl-pen-teen?" I repeat, struggling with the pronunciation. "If it is going in my body, then I want to know what it is."
"Polymethylpentene is a very non-reactive material that's often used as a container or tool when dealing with acids," Ayers explains. "It's also non-breakable, unlike glass, making it safer to use." I nod, nevertheless remaining a little confused.
"Why does it have such a long name?" I ask, genuinely curious. "It seems inconvenient."
"Scientific names have to be very specific," Ayers laughs. "I've always liked them. My favorite word as a child was 'methemoglobinemia.' Eight entire syllables!"
"Met-heem... Met-heem-oh-globe-ih-nee-mee-a?" I say cautiously, impressed by how difficult it is. "Is that another material?"
"It's a genetic hemoglobin disorder that affects humans, making them blue." I blink a few times, uncomprehending for a few moments.
"Blue," I deadpan, thinking she is fooling me.
"Blue," she agrees, and I give her a skeptical look.
"Really?" I question, not able to imagine a human as appearing blue.
"Really. I'll show you a picture later, alright? But, right now, we should get you back downstairs." She turns to the other woman, and they wrap up their conversation.
As she takes me back to my cell, she surprises me by speaking.
"I've been meaning to ask this for a day now. Eclipse, is your 'species' actually a species, or are the different types too genetically different?" Caught a bit off guard, I turn to her.
"Well, a species is supposed to be able to procreate among different subdivisions, but that is not how my race propagated. Shadow and myself are the only ones of our kind to have the option to reproduce sexually. I am not sure if you would classify us as a species or a genus, but we are all of the same parent." She nods, then, grinning slightly, looks down at me again.
"What do you think about Cometacola Glaber as a family and genus name? For you, being different from others of your kind, you could be a Cometacola Glaber longicaudatus. After all, as I understand it, having a long tail is a mutation almost specific to you, right?"
"Yes, for the most part," I reply, pleased she knows how special my dextrous limb is. It is a mark of my purpose and a remarkably useful tool in battle, one that gives me an advantage over my half-brother. I proudly stroke it and hug it to myself to show off, curling and waving it in smooth patterns. I love its expressiveness, and I do not know what I would do without it.
"Though," I add, "Black Volts and Black Wings have very similar tails. They are not bipedal, but that is the origin of my gene."
"It's remarkably interesting, that the Black Arms could freely manipulate their offspring to such a degree. Creating the main types early on, of course, led to easier propagation later, but you were customized in such a small window of time. It's incredible."
"Well, of course." I grin, smiling at her with my sharp teeth. Unlike most humans, she does not have a problem with praising my kind, and she is the only one yet, besides maybe Agatha Topaz, who is not visibly disturbed when I grin.
And, well, it is nice to be treated normally by someone. I have not had much experience with anyone outside of Shadow and my father, both of whom are out of the picture now.
I shake my head briskly, trying to ward off the negative thought.
I have no need for depressing myself... These circumstances are doing quite enough of that already. I snort slightly at that observation, not replying to Ayers' questioning glance.
"Well, you're probably hungry," she says suddenly, changing the subject. "We've concluded from past experiments that your kind can eat almost anything, so we're planning to give you a basic meal, like most soldiers get. If you don't think you should eat something, though, tell us. We'll find a substitute."
"Alright," I reply, amused by the ridiculous thought a human could eat something I cannot. "I doubt there will be a problem."
Though, I guess it is concerning that I forgot about food for a while there. I have had so little to eat for so long, I simply became used to it. I frown at the thought, but the expression passes as Gina leads me into another room.
An unknown human--quite common, those--hands me a tray containing several items I am unfamiliar with. I sit down where Ayers directs me, chewing slowly both to savor my food and to avoid scaring anyone.
Really, this has not been nearly as terrible as I was afraid it would be, I think, munching away. I watch the humans bustling around me, scurrying with an odd, unexplained hurriedness as they go about their tasks. A nice surprise, that. I flash a grin as two people bump into each other, having seen the collision coming. They apologize to each other, bowing out of the way and continuing towards their respective destinations. The politeness surprises me, and I rest my chin in my hand, musing.
Who knows? Maybe I will even come to like it here.
Author's Note: That part about Eclipse's real name? Totally headcanon, along with Topaz's first name, so I'll try to keep it non-intrusive. Hopefully calling her 'Agatha' won't be too confusing for you, but I really wanted Eclipse to have a distinctly different 'feel' from Shadow, so I started thinking about the characters differently whenever writing from his POV. The name change is simple, but it has a big effect. Also, sorry for the terrible chapter title, but it took me an hour to come up with even that... (Naming is hard.)
Wattpad has been a little wonky recently, with notifications and such changing order and disappearing, so I've been avoiding using it too much. So, here's this chapter, with more to come soon. School starts in exactly a week, and I'll be going to two week updates until end of August, when I'll go to weekly (only for this story!). This is so you readers in school have something to look forward to, which I know I need then. I'm thinking of updating on Wednesday, for a middle-of-the-week boost.
Anyways, thanks for reading, and please consider giving a vote or leaving a comment to tell me you liked it! I really appreciate the feedback! Also, if you have any questions about this or another story, just comment, and I'll get right back to you. Thanks! (Especially if you read all this. xD)